Taylor Dilk: Co-Founder & CEO of Vitality

Episode 488

In this episode, Taylor Dilk, Co-Founder and CEO of Vitality, shares her incredible journey and insights into building a successful brand in the athletic apparel industry. Vitality is a premium athletic apparel and loungewear brand designed for everyBODY with a focus on inclusivity and known for their wide array of men’s and women’s apparel available in sizes from 2XS-4XL. We discuss all kinds of things including how they think about their go to market strategy as well as their sustainable and ethical production practices. Plus what makes their clothing and company just awesome! Listen now on this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow.

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Transcript

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be I want to be you just want to make sure you will get knocked down but just make sure you don’t get knocked down knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control control control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go Let’s go. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Goldin show. I’m super super excited to have my next guest you are in for a very special treat. Today we’re here with Taylor Dilk who is the co founder and CEO of an incredible brand called Vitality. And if you are not familiar with Vitality you need to quickly get familiar with Vitality it is an athletic leisure wear brand in the athletic leisure wear space, premium athletic apparel and loungewear brand designed for every body with a focus on inclusivity. And why I can’t say that word this morning. Okay, well you get it. So they are known for their wide array of men’s and women’s apparel available in sizes from 2x s to four XL as well as their sustainable and ethical production practices. So plus their clothing is just yummy, yummy, yummy. So awesome. The fit is great. The feel is great. And you absolutely need to hear all about what Taylor is up to so very excited to have you here. Taylor.

Taylor Dilk 1:53
Oh my gosh. What an intro. I am honored Kara. Thank you.

Kara Goldin 1:58
Absolutely well and I’m I’m looking through your your window here and see all the beautiful snow so you’re just outside of Denver. I heard Yes,

Taylor Dilk 2:10
we we built here. We started three years ago we moved in in March, five days before a baby was born. So talk about timing. But we live outside like 30 minutes south of Denver. It’s gorgeous. We have elk deer. We have bears. It’s it’s a dream. We love it sounds great. But this is this is more peaceful.

Kara Goldin 2:33
That’s awesome. So this was your first baby?

Taylor Dilk 2:36
Yes, baby. Oh my gosh, it’s the best thing ever. I love being a mom. It’s definitely the best thing I’ve ever done. Love it.

Kara Goldin 2:47
That’s awesome. Well, congratulations. Very very exciting. And you’re doing that and and building a thriving business so very proud of you if people don’t tell you that enough. So that’s that’s incredible. So would you mind sharing what the inspiration was behind starting Vitality?

Taylor Dilk 3:08
Yes, first I want to say about hence. I started my journey of social media online you know influencer thing. Seven, eight years ago, maybe longer. And I think it was the very first PR package I ever received. Ever. You guys were like, hey, hey, I saw you on social media. Can we send you a package and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is a dream I’m getting sent product and I I loved it so much. I love the product. But I think that’s so full circle that we are talking today because you you guys believed in me since day one. So Oh isn’t that funny? I just remember that day. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is wild. And anyways, yes. Thank you for having me. Vitality previously known as balanced Athletica, which we had a little name change about a year and a half ago. We can dive into that if we want but we’re now called vitality which we love the new name. Our community loves the new name. But we started back in 2017. We launched in 2018. But back in 2017, I was a couple years into the whole fitness industry. I was bodybuilding. I was sharing my social media journey, my fitness journey online, I was coaching you know nutrition and fitness programs to many men and women out there just to help them feel confident in their own skin. But two years in I was getting sponsored and sent clothes from the athletic wear industry. And it was great and I really liked them but every time I would get a package, I would try things on and they were okay and then my sister Chloe would try things on and they would never fit both her body type and mine And so you know, I think a year went on and it, we just kept getting sent these clothes that didn’t necessarily feel make us feel competent and beautiful in our own skin. So I remember one day I was sitting down with my husband and my sister and I was like, Hey, we can do this whole athletic wear clothing thing, but we can do it so much better, and provide such a better purpose with it. Because at the time, I think the fitness industry was a very exclusive industry, it was people looked at it, and they would shy away from trying to make themselves healthier and a better version version of themselves, because they were like, Oh, well, that person, she’s a size zero, and you know, she’s to be shredded. And I just, I just, people didn’t think that they could relate to that, that kind of lifestyle. So we wanted to create a community in a space where people felt celebrated and confident in their own skin while also trying to make themselves and their lives better, inside and out. So that’s kind of the whole, the whole reason we started this clothing line is because there was no other brand, not even the big brands out there doing this, they were only providing clothes for a specific body type. So I know that’s a long story. But there’s so much purpose and heart and soul into why we started this brand and why we continue to do it on a daily basis. Because we just, we just love when people tell us, Oh, I tried vitality, and I feel the best I’ve ever felt in athletic wear. And I feel so confident and beautiful. And that that to us is our why and that’s why we even make the smallest centimeter tweak every single day to our clothing because we just care about our community so much. And we love the people that have supported us all along. So that’s why we started and we launched our first product in July of 20 themes sold out. And I think at that moment, we were like, okay, you know, we all three quit our jobs and started this thing. We’re on the right path got us, God has us on the right path. And this is a true testament to let’s keep going and we went full throttle, we knew this would become a big thing. And now we’re here today. So awesome started.

Kara Goldin 7:20
So when you first started, you mentioned that you launched with a product and sold out how did you decide what you were going to do and what product you were going to launch with.

Taylor Dilk 7:31
So I think at the beginning, my sister, she’s always designed everything from scratch for vitality. She’s the brains of our clubs, she comes out with brilliant product. But what we wanted to do was come out with something that was making us feel confident, because we knew that our community would also feel confident though, we wanted something high waisted, there was really not anything out there back in the day that was you know, compressive in that area. And then we also came out with something called our signature glute contour seam, which is that you know, our little V in the back that kind of contours, your glutes shapes them makes them look a lot more flattering. So we’re like, in order to come out with a bang, we not only have to make women feel confident in their own skin, but we have to do something different. And that was what we did that kind of like changed the game in industry. If you now notice. Several other brands in the industry have followed suit, which is great, but it’s something that is almost like a a requirement for at least our customers to have that that glute shaping seam in the back. So we went really simple, simple colorways colorways that complimented pretty much everyone’s skin tone. And then we came out with that glute theme, and I think that just really helped us take off. And then a few months later, my sister she was like, hey, I want to do these cheetah cheetah pants. And I was like, okay, cool. I don’t know if people are gonna love them. Or they’re gonna hate them. And they sold out in about like, three minutes. And we’re like, Okay, we got to do the risky stuff. We got to do them, which now, I think being five, six years in the more risk adverse. But back then, you know, when you start you’re like just trying things. You’re not afraid. And you’re like there’s no such thing as failure. And so yeah, I think at those those times, we did risky, risky things. And I think that’s also why we’ve been able to grow so fast. That’s,

Kara Goldin 9:31
that’s wild. So you launched online. And that was you and I were just chatting about some other brands that maybe launched in stores originally and then went online, but you launched your brand online, and you had been a fitness influencer prior to that. Do you think that? I mean, I would imagine that many consumers were asking you your opinion about different clothing and things like that. So maybe it was a Bit of a natural, but what was kind of the step that you went from having a community to actually selling stuff? Like, how did you just like? I mean, where did you do it that leap? Yeah.

Taylor Dilk 10:15
So we, I mean, even now we’ve not really had any mentorship, we’ve done everything, just by trial and error. I knew that I knew that I had some sort of selling power behind the community that I had built, because I built so much trust with my following. That was always so that was huge for me was because I really do care about the people that support me. And so I knew that if, as long as I came out with a solution to a problem, I’d have people that supported me. So we launched, we were successful, because not only our product and our mission, but also you know, we had a community behind us, which was the following that I had built over the past several years, as well as bringing on my other creators slash influencer friends as well into the brand, as we call them, elite leaders and leaders, their exclusive people to our brand. They’re, they’re huge faces for us. So adding our community, my community building, now vitality is community and having other influencers join us. And the mission as well. That’s how we were able to like, feel fully confident, because I have been doing the whole online thing for a couple of years prior, I just, I felt in my heart that we could sell a product. Well, even if we didn’t know how to do it exactly, we had to teach ourselves. I mean, we launched in a in my sister’s garage, and my husband was helping us pick and pack orders as well. But I think we just knew deep down in our hearts, like we’re just have to figure it out. But we truly believe in this. So we made that leap. And I know it’s different, like we were talking about, there are huge brands that you know, are 20 or 30 years old that may have started in more of a traditional retail or brick and mortar space. Whereas we’re kind of opposite. Maybe we’ll go in brick and mortar in the future. But we’ve kind of taken the steps complete opposite as the more traditional, which can be scary. But no, we just we’ve fully believed in it. And we’re, we just didn’t even believe in failure. So, yeah,

Kara Goldin 12:24
I love that.

Unknown Speaker 12:26
So

Kara Goldin 12:27
one of the things that I think is so interesting that you’ve launched is the Vitality color systems. So can you talk a little bit about that and why it’s, why is this initiative so important to you?

Taylor Dilk 12:42
Yeah. So when we like I said, when we came out the beginning, we always want to be innovative and almost like the first to do something in our space. That’s what’s made us so unique and different and has helped us grow against these giant brands is to always be innovative. Because we are small and agile, we can move very quickly, we can do things that aren’t necessary that take a long time for other bigger brands to do. So we always want to want to make sure that’s at the forefront of what we do. When we rebranded to vitality a year and a half ago, we kind of looked at everything externally and internally. And we’re like how can we continue to level up to match this new name, there has to be a reason for the new name outside of just a new name, we need to give people a reason to continue to support us. So one of the things that we did was a huge sustainability, Mission all pretty much all of our fabrics are recycled. And then another sustainability mission we have is with this color system, which is the first of its kind because it’s taking every single launch every single piece that we have, and putting them in a a essential color group. So like we have the greens, the purples, the browns, and a lot of brands could potentially or are doing something similar like this, but what my sister because she designs everything and she’s amazing, she takes these pan tones, but then specifically matches them. So it’s not just a purple because not all purples match, if a specific Pantone of purple that needs to be in the color system that’s going to build out an entire wardrobe for the next you know, 12345 years. You can take a piece now and it will match within the next five years even though it’s a different shade of purple. So it’s a very it’s it’s a it’s a great way to have our customers continue to purchase without having to feel like they need to purchase a full outfit every single time we launch. They can essentially say, Oh, I love I love olives, I’m gonna stick with that. And then the next you know, however long they’re going to continue supporting vitality that we’ll be able to mix and match throughout that full lifetime.

Kara Goldin 14:58
I love that. So Very, very cool. So one of the things that your brand is known for is is sizing inclusivity. And when you think about inventory, and anybody who’s in any business, it’s like, you don’t want to be left with something. Right? And so how do you deal with that? I mean, do you think it’s fairly predictable? Or is it not so predictable? I mean, is it? How do you deal with this?

Taylor Dilk 15:27
Kara that has been, it has been a journey, let me tell you, I can imagine this launch. I mean, you know, when you first launch a business, you’re just kind of throwing things in the air in terms of how much you should buy of, I’m sure for him like a certain flavor. It’s the same for us with a certain Pantone and a certain size. So we just kind of learned trial and error, we still do it. Our CFO Tyler, he’s done it pretty much since the beginning him and I will get together, we got together and we would just like sit down and plan our each launches with the specific sizing. And now he completely does it. We don’t have a merchandising team or anyone mean, we would love that. But we know our business so well, that it’s just kind of been a trial and error thing. We know what colors sell what don’t sell, we know how much to order of each size now. So I really don’t have a specific answer for that other than just just not being afraid to try it yourself. Could we have brought in an expert merchandiser from you know, a big brand that has a lot of experience? Yes, we totally put up but I also think there’s something to be said about doing things yourself. That way, you know, if you ever did anything else in the future, you know exactly how to do it from start to finish. And you’re fully invested. And you can truly do anything you put your mind to. So long story short trial and error. But I think we’ve gotten it to a really good spot to where we’re, we’re getting everyone the sizes they need at the quantities they need. So

Kara Goldin 17:04
you have really enabled your platform to to really be not just about a community, but also about selling incredible product. Vitality, which is, as I mentioned earlier, is such a beautiful, brand and company, but also the fabrics are gorgeous, sustainable, all of those things, but they fit well. Lots of things that I think everybody’s looking for, when you think about the different platforms that are out there, the Instagrams, the Facebook’s the tiktoks. And like how do you speak to those different consumers that are looking for products like yours? Do you think that it varies significantly, between the different platforms?

Taylor Dilk 17:52
I think so I think the demographic is probably what you, you see as well. tiktoks more younger Instagrams, middle, Facebook’s kind of like the, the, you know, maybe older generation still using it. But I will say that to it, tick tock, for instance, that’s kind of a newer thing for us, because we’re not an older brand. But the social media, we are kind of like an older brand. So we started on Instagram. And we’ve been trying to also transition and grab those Tik Tok users. So although, you know, we did start on social media and like we we have been able to be so successful in the Instagram world, we’ve also had to completely pivot and keep changing because as you know, that world just changes so fast and so frequently. And I think that users for each platform are growing in terms of demographic, I think, I think tick tock started pretty young, but I think now it’s starting, you’re starting to see a very wide range of users. So I think that I don’t really have an exact answer for you. But we do see just through just through what we’ve done through ads, or just our own social media posts, it changes so frequently that it is hard to pinpoint what exactly works, but I will say, we, we started for two years not doing any paid ads, we only use social media influencers and the faces of our brands, when we dove into the ads portion. I will say that it’s it’s a totally different world in terms of what sells what doesn’t sell and it is constantly changing. UGC ads, just seeing the performance of everything. You really have to have an expert in that which you know, it’s it’s definitely crucial in order to keep growing and stay relevant with your brand because you can be a brick and mortar store that’s 3040 50 years old and be successful, but like we were talking about before, if those brands can continue to keep Social Media Top of Mind If they can grow their revenues so much more than they can ever, ever imagine.

Kara Goldin 20:05
Yeah, it’s so true. I couldn’t agree more. I mean, it’s, it’s really, there’s a massive opportunity there. So when you think about your brand, and you know, your testing things, trying things out, they’re just getting, just getting the word out that you’re actually selling products back in 2018. What was kind of the first pinch me moment when you knew that you were on to something like this was you were so excited? Maybe it’s that first product, but it took for many founders, it wasn’t just the first product it was a little bit later, when they were feeling like it was sticking in some way. Do you remember that? Were, you know, you really felt like, Okay, this can actually be a big company.

Taylor Dilk 21:06
I mean, it’s so I did ask that all the time, like, did you know vitality would grow to what it is. And I think we always we always knew it, it would be big. We didn’t know how quickly it would get there. But I think that more so blows my mind than the growth because I do think that it’s it needed this brand needed to happen. It needed to be in the world people, this whole community was feeling so excluded for so long. So I knew that this would be something very special and near and dear to people’s hearts. But I think the first pinch me moment would be yes, the first launch was great selling out. And we continue to grow our audience. But when we came up with something so unique and wild, which was we’re probably still known for our kingdom collection, or cheetah print pant, the reaction that we saw to that. And the amount of inventory we had was very scary, especially as a brand starting out. I don’t know what we were thinking ordering that much. But we were like, Let’s go for it guys. Like, of course, we can sell this much. And so it was very scary going into it and then seeing it sell out within, you know, 60 seconds. It was like, whoa, okay, we are on to something, I think this is going to be incredible. Like, let’s keep going. And it was just me, my sister, my husband, our CFO, now Tyler, and then my mom doing customer service. Like it was all very, we’re very small at the time. And I think that just doing things every single day, and not looking back. It’s been it’s been a wild journey. But I think that was the first pinch me moment was the first sort of like big inventory sell out that we had. And

Kara Goldin 22:49
you’ve kept that SKU obviously, you’ve continued to grow it. And that’s, that’s amazing. I love that. And do you think that’s what a lot of people know you for?

Taylor Dilk 23:02
I do because it was the first in the industry. I mean, I don’t know, about 20 years ago or whatever. But I know that at the time we were the first people to do it. And especially with the glutes theme, so you saw a lot of brands following suit with our exact pattern or exact pattern and pantones. And I knew like, once you get people in the industry kind of following suit with what you’re doing, you know that you’re doing something good. So I think that we can look at it either way, like, oh, people are copying us or you can be like, let’s, that’s great. Let’s keep innovating, they can have the last thing that we’re doing, because we’re going to keep doing something for the future, we’re going to keep doing special things that our audience truly needs.

Kara Goldin 23:45
What is the most difficult part of building your company?

Taylor Dilk 23:53
Gosh, that is a very hard question. I think not having any experience starting from scratch. I think that that income this is obviously a very wide range in terms of this answer. But I think just starting from scratch and like knowing what we know now, five to six years later, would we have done some of the things that we did at the beginning? Maybe maybe not. And I think that, you know, looking back, you can think, Oh, we made a mistake here or oh, we should have done this instead of this. I think that everything happens for a reason. And you’re able to grow through experiences and the highs and the lows, whether we like the load or not. I think that they’re the biggest opportunity for growth and the adversity gets you to where you are today. And so I think the hardest thing, obviously is just going in with no experience starting from scratch, doing it with your family like head down every single day all day for the past six years. That’s been done. definitely a very wild ride. But I think that now, it’s, we’ve we are the people were refined into the people in the business owners that we always were meant to be. It just took the highs and lows to get there.

Kara Goldin 25:15
Definitely. So what surprised you about building your company, maybe something that no one ever told you? Right? Like, it sounds great to go be an entrepreneur. But what is it that has really kind of surprised you? Now,

Taylor Dilk 25:32
I think the way that I respond to stress in my life, or the way that I respond to the big things that are happening around me, may have impacted me on in the past. But now, you know, you’re you’re getting thrown things at you all day, every day that you kind of learn how to pivot very quickly, without emotions tied through it, you’re able to look at situations entirely different than maybe this huge thing that might have been in the past. So I think the growth within a person starting the business from start to finish, I think the growth internally is the most surprising, because you can look back just five years ago, and you can think, who even was that person, you know, like how much you grow is very surprising. And it is really cool. I would say that’s pretty surprising, I would say just, you know, doing a business, when it’s smaller is a lot different than when you grow very quickly. It’s kind of hard. It’s like drinking from a firehose, I think that the growth there is very surprising and all the skills that you need to learn in order to do so. And obviously, we have so much to learn and, and everything. But I think yeah, those two things are very, very surprising. And how much, you know, grit it takes to continue moving forward on the bad days.

Kara Goldin 27:06
Yeah, no, definitely. So how big is your team now?

Taylor Dilk 27:11
We have a team of about 20. We are we’re, we grew pretty fast. And we hired a lot of people as did 2020. I think that happened with a lot of companies. And then we decided to kind of take our experts within the company and have them take on more role of their role, which actually ended up being really good for where we’re at now. We operate better, we operate leaner, we produce better. And I think I think now our team, our core team is just a true powerhouse, and able to take on the scaling that we’re hopefully going to be going through within this 2024 year. But yeah, that’s our team right now. They’re all amazing. A lot of them have been with us since the beginning. So they have the purpose and the passion behind what they do, too. But yeah, they’re all amazing. We couldn’t we couldn’t do it without them.

Kara Goldin 28:10
Super exciting for you guys. So best advice. Maybe there’s a founder out there listening and whether it’s in your industry, or or some other industry that’s thinking about starting something, maybe somebody gave you some great advice along the way. Or maybe it’s your own advice that you know that voice inside you that that keeps you going every day. I mean, what what would you say to that?

Taylor Dilk 28:37
I would say, I there’s so many people out there that have this idea in their mind that they cannot stop thinking about they think about it every day they wake up, they think about it, they go to sleep, they think about it, I would say there’s no better time to start than right now. And that may not be the path for your life that may be the path for your life. I think that if something’s on your heart, and you cannot stop thinking about it, go for it. It’s never going to go away. And there’s no better time to start than right now. Especially if you’re a woman, just know, women in business, it’s really hard and you’re going to get turned down a lot. You’re not going to be taken as seriously. But I would say never change who you are to please to be someone you think you’re supposed to be. Because I would say being being a woman you’re able to have so many skills, you’re able to think of have such like a deep emotion and empathy for other people, while also being extremely business minded. And I think that we grew up we all grew up in a society and even today where the business minded woman you have to be this certain way. You have to be hard and you have to be straightened to the point but I think that you can still be a great business one And by being yourself and not changing who you are. So I would say, no matter where you go with your business, never change who you are to the core. Because I think that that’s just such a beautiful thing.

Kara Goldin 30:15
I love that. So Taylor Delk, co founder and CEO, Vitality, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your wisdom and your journey. And everybody needs to hop onto your website and buy lots of product. So you’re going to be so excited. And your colors, as you talked about a bit are amazing. And obviously sizing so great. So we’ll have all the info in the show notes. But thank you again and have an excellent rest of the week.

Unknown Speaker 30:44
Thank you, Kara.

Kara Goldin 30:45
Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin show. If you would, please give us a review. And feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit and of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin. I would love to hear from you too, so feel free to DM me. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal, best selling book undaunted, where I share more about my journey including founding and building hint. We are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for listening and goodbye for now. Before we sign off, I want to talk to you about fear. People like to talk about fearless leaders. But achieving big goals isn’t about fearlessness. Successful leaders recognize their fears and decide to deal with them head on in order to move forward. This is where my new book undaunted comes in. This book is designed for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of fear, overcome doubts and live a little undaunted. Order your copy today at undaunted, the book.com and learn how to look your doubts and doubters in the eye and achieve your dreams. For a limited time. You’ll also receive a free case of hint water. Do you have a question for me or want to nominate an innovator to spotlight send me a tweet at Kara Goldin and let me know. And if you liked what you heard, please leave me a review on Apple podcasts. You can also follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn at Kara Goldin. Thanks for listening

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